State auditor candidate seeks more extensive disclosure rules for elected officials

Bringing up recent ethics cases, Mike Claytor argued that Indiana's rules need work. Claytor said elected officials should be required to make a "complete disclosure" of all their financial interests.

"I firmly believe when one party has supermajority in the legislature and supermajority in the executive branch as well, that those officials become less accountable to the people and more accountable to the political party system," Claytor said.

An Indiana House committee is anticipated to meet before next year's legislative session for a review of the chamber's conflict of interest rules and the way financial interests are disclosed. The review follows the House Ethics Committee finding that state Rep. Eric Turner, R-Cicero, didn't violate House ethics rules in speaking during a private meeting of House Republicans against legislation that The Associated Press reported could have cost him millions of dollars.

At the time, the ethics committee reported that Turner's actions raised concerns that House rules didn't require "enough disclosure."

Claytor, of Carmel, said any reforms should be vetted in a bipartisan fashion by Democrats and Republicans and should ensure Hoosiers have the "real ability to keep those officials accountable."

"We don't have to disclose all things we own or invest in," Claytor said. "It's a very limited amount of disclosure and that needs to be expanded significantly, not just for administrative officials, elected and appointed, but for the legislature as well. We need complete disclosure of all holdings and all assets each elected official has."

Claytor, a certified public accountant, is running against State Auditor Suzanne Crouch, a Republican, in November's election.

Indiana Republican Party Chairman Tim Berry said from Claytor's comments, it sounded like he was running for inspector general and not state auditor.

Claytor said if elected, he would work to expand the amount of public documents available online. Yet, Berry said the state's transparency portal already has high ratings.

"Suzanne Crouch is focused on a daily basis on financial transparency and financial standing of the state of Indiana," Berry said. "Those are the rules and the jobs of the state auditor."

Claytor's comments add to a growing dialogue on ethics in state and local government. Separately, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller in April announced the formation of the Public Integrity Coalition that works to reduce the number of state audits of local government finances that show misappropriated money.

State Rep. Gail Riecken (D-Evansville), who sits on the ethics committee, said her understanding is there will be legislation in 2015 to address the disclosure form and make it clearer for people to understand. Currently, lawmakers are required to disclose information about where they and their spouse receive 33 percent of their non-legislative income, as well as businesses they operate and partnerships where they are a member, among other information.

"There needs to be a clear understanding of the relationship that people have with corporations or entities that are going to have any business at all with the state," Riecken said, "or being affected by the legislation we are discussing."